Tuesday 4th October
Georgetown/Penang. Lazy lie-in. I have had this large dorm room to myself since I got here, which has been good. But this morning an Indonesian girl called Flower arrived. Her family is from Parapat, near Lake Toba in Sumartra, she was born in Jakarta and now lives in Medan; so we already had lots to talk about.
We went for late Indian breakfast and then just pottered around the town. It was a bit overcast and there is not much to see but I was kind of showing Flower around. We enjoyed the sights and sounds and smells of Little India with the colourful shops, the Hindi music playing and the whiff of Indian food. We got lovely crispy samosa. The hardest part of being here is deciding whether to have sweet milky tea or mango lassi with the delcious food. And it is good to have slow days after the hardcore travelling in Flores last month.
Wednesday 5th October
Up at 6am and went for paratha and chai for breakfast at a street stall. At 8am, got the minibus then super-comfortable coach back to KL; I slept most of the way. The coach dropped us close to the hostel here in Chinatown which was good because it is raining.
I walked and got the skyrail and walked some more to the Myanmar consulate and collected my passport and Myanmar visa. On the way back I had a longer look up at the Petronas Towers, and walked all the way back to Chinatown. Sharing dorm room with two Welsh guys and Danish girl.
I had street noodles and chatty Norwen from Brittany sat at the same table and invited me to go with her to see the Petronas Towers by night, so we got the LRT there. When we walked out of the station and looked up, there were the Towers, all lit-up, looking very futuristic. We took some pics, hung around and then walked back to China Town and got ice cream from Macca's.
Thursday 6th October
Skipped breakfast and got the bus out to the bus station from where I took another bus 2 hours to Melaka. But the main station is outside of town so I then had to get the town bus. In town, the driver genuninely forgot to tell me when we passed the road I had said I wanted to go to, so I ended up doing a circuit of the town, going back out to the main station, waiting there and then coming back in. So it was after 2pm by the time I had checked in, so I was pretty hungry. I walked straight out of Chinatown and to Little India where I got a great veggie meal.
It was quite a successful day: the hostel is really good with a clean dorm and free wi-fi, I got Burmese Days from the second-hand bookshop (the specific book I was looking for) and I got a new pair of shorts because my current ones won't last much longer. The new ones have a few grubby marks on them so I bargained the lady down to half price! They will soon be really grubby anyway!
Penang/Georgetown and Melaka are similar in that they both used to be important sea trading ports and they both have Chinatown and a Little India. From walking around this afternoon and again this evening, I think I prefer it here in Melaka. Chinatown is more colourful here and the architecture is much more pleasing. There is a canal/river running through the town with nice bridges across and a town sqaure with a fountain and a church.
I had dinner in Chinatown; the chicken in ginger and onion was ok.
In the evening I got another traveller (a German guy) to shave my head. He only had one blade which we guessed was a grade 4 but maybe was a 2 or 3. It is not flattering but it feels better.
Friday 7th October
Had dim sum at the restaurant nearby. You pick and choose what you want. It did not look like much food at first but it tasted good and was quite filling.
I walked to the old Portuguese fort of Porta De Santiago. An archway (entrance) is all that is left of the old fort (the British destroyed most of it) and some of the walls have been reconstructed. At the top is St Pauls Church and a statue of St. Francis Xavier who was here for a while and whose body was stored here for a few months before being shipped to Goa (where I visited the church named after him).
I ate too much Indian food for lunch. Came back to the the hostel and Chinese guy was watching a Hong Kong soap opera/drama. I had a lazy cat nap and 4 hours later the guy is still here watching the same DVD. There are many Taiwanese/Hong Kong dramas and the locals including the men seem to love them.
Melaka has a night food market in Jonker Street on Friday and Saturday nights. I had a wander up and down but it was mostly souvenirs and tat and some food. I had Nonya Laksa. Nonya refers to people of Chinese descent who married local Malays. Anyway the laksa was good, though no different from other Laksa.
I watched Montenegro v England on the internet in the hostel; never a dull moment following England. Bed at 5am
Saturday 8th October
Slept until 11am, then pottered about. Had Indian food for late lunch, friendly Indian couple I chatted to paid my bill. Went to small cafe with English couple and watched England lose to France in RWC.
In the evening I went out with some Dutch girls and a guy who work in KL. We went to the night markets and ate radish cake, a spring roll, popiah (a kind of spring roll) and cendol (ice with syrup, jellies and chocolate bits). Heavy rain.
Georgetown/Penang. Lazy lie-in. I have had this large dorm room to myself since I got here, which has been good. But this morning an Indonesian girl called Flower arrived. Her family is from Parapat, near Lake Toba in Sumartra, she was born in Jakarta and now lives in Medan; so we already had lots to talk about.
We went for late Indian breakfast and then just pottered around the town. It was a bit overcast and there is not much to see but I was kind of showing Flower around. We enjoyed the sights and sounds and smells of Little India with the colourful shops, the Hindi music playing and the whiff of Indian food. We got lovely crispy samosa. The hardest part of being here is deciding whether to have sweet milky tea or mango lassi with the delcious food. And it is good to have slow days after the hardcore travelling in Flores last month.
Wednesday 5th October
Up at 6am and went for paratha and chai for breakfast at a street stall. At 8am, got the minibus then super-comfortable coach back to KL; I slept most of the way. The coach dropped us close to the hostel here in Chinatown which was good because it is raining.
I walked and got the skyrail and walked some more to the Myanmar consulate and collected my passport and Myanmar visa. On the way back I had a longer look up at the Petronas Towers, and walked all the way back to Chinatown. Sharing dorm room with two Welsh guys and Danish girl.
I had street noodles and chatty Norwen from Brittany sat at the same table and invited me to go with her to see the Petronas Towers by night, so we got the LRT there. When we walked out of the station and looked up, there were the Towers, all lit-up, looking very futuristic. We took some pics, hung around and then walked back to China Town and got ice cream from Macca's.
Thursday 6th October
Skipped breakfast and got the bus out to the bus station from where I took another bus 2 hours to Melaka. But the main station is outside of town so I then had to get the town bus. In town, the driver genuninely forgot to tell me when we passed the road I had said I wanted to go to, so I ended up doing a circuit of the town, going back out to the main station, waiting there and then coming back in. So it was after 2pm by the time I had checked in, so I was pretty hungry. I walked straight out of Chinatown and to Little India where I got a great veggie meal.
It was quite a successful day: the hostel is really good with a clean dorm and free wi-fi, I got Burmese Days from the second-hand bookshop (the specific book I was looking for) and I got a new pair of shorts because my current ones won't last much longer. The new ones have a few grubby marks on them so I bargained the lady down to half price! They will soon be really grubby anyway!
Penang/Georgetown and Melaka are similar in that they both used to be important sea trading ports and they both have Chinatown and a Little India. From walking around this afternoon and again this evening, I think I prefer it here in Melaka. Chinatown is more colourful here and the architecture is much more pleasing. There is a canal/river running through the town with nice bridges across and a town sqaure with a fountain and a church.
I had dinner in Chinatown; the chicken in ginger and onion was ok.
In the evening I got another traveller (a German guy) to shave my head. He only had one blade which we guessed was a grade 4 but maybe was a 2 or 3. It is not flattering but it feels better.
Friday 7th October
Had dim sum at the restaurant nearby. You pick and choose what you want. It did not look like much food at first but it tasted good and was quite filling.
I walked to the old Portuguese fort of Porta De Santiago. An archway (entrance) is all that is left of the old fort (the British destroyed most of it) and some of the walls have been reconstructed. At the top is St Pauls Church and a statue of St. Francis Xavier who was here for a while and whose body was stored here for a few months before being shipped to Goa (where I visited the church named after him).
I ate too much Indian food for lunch. Came back to the the hostel and Chinese guy was watching a Hong Kong soap opera/drama. I had a lazy cat nap and 4 hours later the guy is still here watching the same DVD. There are many Taiwanese/Hong Kong dramas and the locals including the men seem to love them.
Melaka has a night food market in Jonker Street on Friday and Saturday nights. I had a wander up and down but it was mostly souvenirs and tat and some food. I had Nonya Laksa. Nonya refers to people of Chinese descent who married local Malays. Anyway the laksa was good, though no different from other Laksa.
I watched Montenegro v England on the internet in the hostel; never a dull moment following England. Bed at 5am
Saturday 8th October
Slept until 11am, then pottered about. Had Indian food for late lunch, friendly Indian couple I chatted to paid my bill. Went to small cafe with English couple and watched England lose to France in RWC.
In the evening I went out with some Dutch girls and a guy who work in KL. We went to the night markets and ate radish cake, a spring roll, popiah (a kind of spring roll) and cendol (ice with syrup, jellies and chocolate bits). Heavy rain.
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